prevented here as in those Colonies and the property would have
been saved. Governor Hutchinson & the other Crown officers having
the Command of the Castle by which the Ships must have passed, &
other powers in their Hands, made use of these Powers to defeat
the Intentions of the people & succeeded; in short the Governor
who for Art & Cunning as well as an inveterate hatred of the
people was inferior to no one of the Cabal; both encouragd &
provoked the people to destroy the Tea. By refusing to grant a
Passport he held up to them the alternative of destroying the
property of the East India Company or suffering that to be the
sure means of unhinging the Security of property in general in
America, and by delaying to call on the naval power to protect
the Tea, he led them to determine their Choice of Difficulties.
In this View of the Matter the Question is easily decided who
ought in Justice to pay for the Tea if it ought to be paid for at
all.

The Destruction of the Tea is the pretence for the unprecedented
Severity shown to the Town of Boston but the real Cause is the
opposition to Tyranny for which the people of that Town have
always made themselves remarkeable & for which I think this
Country is much obligd to them. They are suffering the Vengeance
of Administration in the Common Cause of America.



RESOLUTION OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSACHUSETTS.
MARCH 1,1774.1

[Journal of the House of Representatives, 1773, 1774 p. 219.]